Homeofmuppets

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  • Written by Stanton
  • 2009-06-09 04:57:17

An open letter from Stanton

First and foremost, I'd like to offer an unreserved apology to everyone who's reading this, everyone who continues to visit this site even though it's been neglected for the past year.

As you can probably see, the *new and improved* design I gave the site has been binned, and the 'good old design' is back, I've always been a proponent of the 'If it ain't broke...' philosophy but failed to take my own advice when it came to this site, I've always suffered from a constant desire to try new things and over the past 9 years when web design and development was a mere hobby, Homeofmuppets was my main creative outlet, it was my drawing board, my playground, a place where I could experiment with new things and hone my skills as a web developer. Normally that's a great thing, but when you're also trying to build and maintain a community, change can also be a bad thing.

When I finally landed a full-time gig as a web developer, I'd take a look under the hood of this site and the 6 years of spaghetti code it contained and I felt embarrased. The sheer mess of code on which this site ran made me feel amateurish (as indeed it was built by an amateur) and it didn't reflect my current skills as a web designer and developer, I felt that any potential employer taking a look under the bonnet would recoil in horror and think that the code I wrote 6 years ago would reflect my current ability.

What I failed to keep in mind is that the most important thing on Homeofmuppets is you, the small but loyal group of friends who I've had the pleasure to interact with, and watch interact with each other. The people who I've travelled the world to meet and had sleep on my floor on occasions, times when we crammed into a tiny car and drove 10 hours to celebrate a birthday, got drunk in a log cabin in the middle of the snowy Norwegian wilderness, soaking wet at the foot of Niagara Falls, and far too close and personal with a drag queen in New York City, What does it matter if the code I've written looks ugly when people can share their lives with each other in this way and make memories that will last a lifetime.

I always felt like Facebook would mean the end of this site, indeed many of you interact over on there, but even though it's an absolutely perfect site to interact with friends on, it's always felt too impersonal, too public, and recently I've yearned for 'the little corner of the net' which we used to have. I feel a new-found determination not to squander the opportunity of maintaining a permanent home for us even if bigger and better places do exist. I wonder if any of you feel the same?

So I'm writing to ask if you can accept my apology, The site will be back, and it'll work properly this time! I feel like I abandoned you all, or at least alienated you with my desire to live up-to sites like Facebook, or use HoM as a showcase of my abilities. I want the good times back, and more than that, I want our little corner of the net to be as good as it once was! Some of you might have noticed that Homeofmusic finally died, I'd hate for that to happen here, we go way back, you and me, and I love ya!

Stanton

16 comments

  1. avatar luke says:
    on 9/6/09
    Here here!! As a semi-professional writer I must say that was rather eloquent prose my friend!! Apology accepted and everyone will be back I have no doubt, Facebook is good but it's just not Homeofmuppets!!!
  2. avatar Stanton says:
    on 9/6/09

    Thanks Luke :) I'd also like to point out to everyone that the design is very very rough, pretty much just a wireframe and will evolve over the next few weeks :)

  3. avatar SK1 says:
    on 9/6/09

    I really don't think you owe us an apology.  People have things in their lives that are more pressing.  I do want to thank you for all the great memories we have encountered personally and through this site.  I look forward to seeing the new site and I hope to be a part of it again.  Apology not needed but accepted my friend.

  4. avatar Stanton says:
    on 9/6/09

    Well you're already on the new site, this is it! but the design and functionality will gradually evolve around you :)

  5. avatar SK1 says:
    on 9/6/09

    Look forward to breaking it! :)

  6. avatar Andy Flange says:
    on 12/6/09

    as SKUno said... no apology needed... after all, you didn't 'have' to give us our own little corner to gather in and without this site some of us might well have lost contact with each other completely after we strayed from Homeofmusic.com (and I must admit I've kinda been like that myself... real world taking over and such...) but the fact that this site is still here in any capacity is a blessing for those of us who have been out of the loop, just as much as it is for those of us who are still close-knit and if anything it's us who need to lend our thanks to you for keeping this place going all these years, so to keep things short('ish Undecided), thanks mate!

  7. avatar EErazer says:
    on 13/6/09

    That sounds like a great initiative Stanton! I made great friends thanks to this site. So we can't let it die and let Facebook take over.

    Now, since you're going old skool with the site, where's the manah manah song?! :D

  8. avatar saketumi says:
    on 14/6/09

    Great to see some old names from HomeOfMusic.com giving you a shout on here, Stanton. Sad to see that site is no longer online. End of an era...(sigh). Good to see you're still keeping this site going, though. Mucho props. Cheers all!...

    Salud,

    Saketumi

    ;)

  9. avatar 2Bees says:
    on 15/6/09

    Yay, my nagging finally helped. You did something about it.... And a mighty fine job so far....

    And yes, no apology was needed but... hey... we're back, aren't we ?!?

    Wink

    We should meet again in the future... all those great memories... time to make some new ones.... Cool

  10. avatar EErazer says:
    on 15/6/09

    I'm seeing Bully in 2 weeks actually. :)

    And yes, I'm so overdue for a visit to Leeds as well! Must arrange something soon!

  11. avatar 2Bees says:
    on 16/6/09

    You sneaky bugger... Wink

    Meeting people without telling... you must be arrested... LOL....

    Have fun anyway.... Laughing

  12. avatar Stanton says:
    on 17/6/09




  13. avatar Too Tone says:
    on 18/6/09

    Bob's back too............................. tone

    You'll all be sick to death of my blogs ......everyone else is lol  

  14. avatar DJ Lopski says:
    on 20/7/09

    Will be good to have somewhere to come back and find all these all too familiar names & faces!

  15. avatar Limitles says:
    on 24/7/09

    Dudeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I join every one else..... no apologies.... in fact we should all apologize for not visiting as often and uploading as many moblogs and blogging as much as we used to!!!!  Lets get back to it.... you're right we need our own little corner of the net..... and we will NEVER let this die like we let HoM die..... honestly!  We love you for all the work you put in, we appreciate it all.... if you have no time.... well... chances are neither do we.... except for SKUno.... he ha no life.... I hate him.... but you see I wouldn't be able to hate him the way I do witshout this place... hating isn't fun on facebook.....  and this has been a very long run on sentence and I don't care.......we love you !!!!

  16. avatar rhipkin says:
    on 16/8/09

    No need to apologise old chap, good to see old names again ;)

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